Inter-Section Robotic Challenge (microMouse)

Abstract

A Micromouse is an engineering design competition created by IEEE where small robotic mice solve a 16x16 maze. The mice are completely autonomous robots that must find their way from a predetermined starting position to the central area of the maze unaided. The mouse will need to keep track of where it is, discover walls as it explores, map out the maze and detect when it has reached the goal. Having reached the goal, the mouse will typically perform additional searches of the maze until it has found an optimal route from the start to the center. Once the optimal route has been found, the mouse will run that route in the shortest possible time.There are sensors on the mouse which sense the walls at the front and sides. The complete controlling, which includes detecting obstacles, turning intelligently, and self correcting its path in case it goes astray, is done by a Microcontroller. The controller also dictates the exact number of steps to be taken by the Micromouse by the use of precise stepper motors. The Microcontroller has been programmed to follow an algorithm which allows it to explore the whole maze, remember paths which it has already travelled, and hence navigate it in the least time. Flood-Fill algorithm has been used to achieve this task. After navigating the whole maze it traces the shortest path to the centre of the maze.